Baroque
Scarlatti's Steinways at Melbourne
The remarkable output of 555 keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) remains one of the most original contributions in Western art music. Pianist Ian Holtham selects 23 sonatas, sequenced into four Baroque tonal groupings and recorded on the Conservatorium’s four Steinway Model Ds.
Trio Polyphonica
Trio Polyphonica was active from 1980 to 1990, with a repertoire spanning more than three centuries. This recording gathers chamber trios by Vivaldi, C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, J.S. Bach and Francesco Zappa.
The Pleyel Harpsichord
Roger Heagney plays one of the last harpsichords made by the French Pleyel piano company (1963). Founded in 1807, Pleyel built pianos until 2014. The Concert Grand Harpsichord offers a distinctive sound and seven-pedal colour.
Masters of Baroque
Trio Polyphonica was active between 1980 and 1990, with a repertoire spanning more than three centuries. This programme presents Baroque chamber works by Frescobaldi, Hellendaal, Couperin, Leclair, Rameau and Corelli.
Bach Cello
Debate still rages over the origins and purpose of Bach’s cello suites. Were they written for court cellists Christian Ferdinand Abel and Christian Bernhard Linke, for the unusual violoncello da spalla, or as progressive exercises for Bach himself?
Bach's Tonal Soundscape
Ian Holtham’s distinctive approach to Bach’s monumental Well-Tempered Clavier lets listeners hear the preludes and fugues organised by key, rather than the traditional and more artificial order by book.
JS Bach Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord
Considering the fame of Bach’s solo violin partitas and cello suites, it is remarkable that his sonatas for viola da gamba and keyboard still sit in the shadows for many listeners. That some of their material appears elsewhere in his output hardly explains the neglect.
Bach Motets
The Australian Chamber Choir, directed by Douglas Lawrence, performs motets by J.S. Bach with works by Johann Michael Bach and Johann Christoph Bach.
More Bizarre or baRock
"The hottest, hippest harpsichord in the world today," said one critic of the best-selling Bizarre or baRock. Melbourne harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson returns with the long-awaited sequel.
Anna Magdalena Bach's Book
Harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson and boy soprano Jacob Lawrence present the complete musical contents of the 1725 notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach, from the beloved Bist du bei mir to suites, chorales and the aria later known from the Goldberg Variations.
Transcriptions Baroque
Recorded in Trinity College Chapel, Melbourne, this disc pairs trumpeter Anthony Pope with organist Dominic Perissinotto across eight Baroque concertos. Four are heard on trumpet with organ accompaniment; the rest are solo organ transcriptions by celebrated organists of their day.
Venice to Versailles
Venice and Versailles stand for the two dominant Baroque styles in Europe: Venice for the robust, joyous exuberance and barocco character of the Italian manner, and Versailles for the refinement, delicacy, elegance and douceur of the French.
The Convict Harpsichordist
John Grant, frustrated in love, shot a London lawyer in the buttock and was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey. Granted a reprieve, he reached Sydney Cove in 1804 with Australia’s first harpsichord. What music did he play? Elizabeth Anderson answers on the instrument he brought.
Tuba Recital
One of the world’s finest tuba players, and the first to give a tuba recital in Australia, Ian King presents a programme from Bach and Vivaldi through to Paul Hindemith’s remarkable Sonata for Tuba and Piano.
two
Recorder player Genevieve Lacey and percussionist Poul Høxbro present a programme spanning medieval dance, Irish folk melody, Baroque virtuosity and contemporary Australian works.
La Follia
La Follia variations by Corelli, Vitali, Vivaldi and Scarlatti, in vivid performances by German recorder virtuoso Susanne Ehrhardt with Australian harpsichordist and organist Jacqueline Ogeil.
La Prima Stravaganza
Sonatas of 17th-century Italy from Capella Corelli: a window on instrumental music as it found its own voice, from the experimental works of Cima, Castello, Montalbano, Fontana, Frescobaldi, Marini and Uccellini through to Corelli.
The Bach Family Circle
Music for oboe and harpsichord. Acclaimed historical oboist Geoffrey Burgess and harpsichordist Ann Murphy explore the hypothetical voice of the lost Bach oboe through realisations and rescorings.
Sonate Metodiche
Two of Australia's finest Baroque musicians, Hans-Dieter Michatz and Linda Kent, perform Telemann's rarely heard Sonate Metodiche for Baroque flute and continuo. Six large-scale sonatas display the variety, colour and detailed ornamentation of the high Baroque.
Buxtehude at the Harpsichord
Acclaimed harpsichordist Jacqueline Ogeil performs rarely heard Buxtehude harpsichord works. Most of these secular pieces surfaced only in the twentieth century; suites, arias and variations in popular Baroque idioms, light and entertaining in character.
The Bedroom of the King (La Chambre du Roi)
Elysium Ensemble bring French chamber music of the early 18th century into the private apartments of Louis XIV: Couperin and Hotteterre in the douceur of Versailles and the Paris salons.
Bizarre or baRock
Elizabeth Anderson explores harpsichord music across four centuries: from Conceição’s raw 17th-century battle piece and traditional Baroque repertoire to jazz, blues, Gershwin and the Beatles with drums and bass. Weird, wild, wacky and wonderful – you’ve never heard the harpsichord like this.
The Virtuoso Harpsichord
Melbourne harpsichordist Jacqueline Ogeil presents the instrument’s virtuosic, dramatic and passionate sides, from Bach and Scarlatti to Handel, Rameau and the premiere of Naji Hakim’s suite Shasta.
Orgelbüchlein
Calvin Bowman gives an expert reading of J.S. Bach's Little Organ Book – a microcosm of the composer's inventive and improvisational genius – on the Ahrend organ at Robert Blackwood Hall.
Music for the Countess of Sandwich
First Australian release of Charles Dieupart’s complete suites for flûte du voix and harpsichord (1701), including two suites later copied by J. S. Bach.
Goldberg Variations
A rare chance to hear Bach’s complete Goldberg Variations with every repeat, the fourteen canons on the Goldberg bass, and the Italian Concerto, played by Elizabeth Anderson on harpsichord. Two CDs for the price of one.
Telemann Duo Sonatas
Lesley Lewis and Joanna Dudley give the first recording of Telemann's second book of Six Duo Sonatas on two recorders: light-hearted Baroque chamber music built on short, memorable themes.
Musical Portraits from the Salons of Paris
Harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson recreates a salon concert from pre-revolutionary Paris. Grand, lively ‘character pieces’ by Forqueray, Duphly and Balbastre — musical portraits of celebrated figures — are brought to life with deft, accomplished playing.
Baroque Trumpet and Strings
Sonatas and suites by Corelli, Torelli, Telemann, Purcell and Handel sit beside rarely heard works by Molter, Grossi and Biber, several recorded here for the first time on original instruments.
Capella Corelli Plays Handel and Telemann
Capella Corelli has long been one of Australia’s foremost baroque chamber ensembles. Here they present sonatas by Handel and Telemann for baroque violin, recorder, viola da gamba and harpsichord.
Complete Bach Flute Sonatas, Vol. 2
Acclaimed artists present superb performances of the complete Bach flute sonatas.
Complete Bach Flute Sonatas, Vol. 1
Acclaimed artists present superb performances of the complete Bach flute sonatas.
Fandango
Flamboyant Spanish and French Baroque keyboard music from harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson, joined by Douglas Lawrence on chamber organ for Soler’s two-keyboard concerto and Couperin’s musettes.
Mostly Bach
Flautist David Bloom and guitarist Peter Lynch present Bach's D minor suite arranged for solo flute, the C major flute sonata, and Mauro Giuliani's Grande Sonata in A major for flute and guitar.
A Baroque Collection
Douglas Lawrence plays Baroque organ masterworks on Jürgen Ahrend’s acclaimed instrument in Monash University’s Robert Blackwood Hall, a programme spanning Zipoli to Buxtehude.
Exquisite Harmonies
Exquisite Harmonies features works for viola da gamba and harpsichord, and several harpsichord solos, largely from the French Baroque. The exceptions are Telemann, Abel and Australian composer Troy Russell. A nice treat is an improvised harpsichord fantasia in the style of Telemann.
Life and Love
Cameron Roberts plays Johann Sebastian Bach at the piano, joining original keyboard works with his own arrangements and those of Busoni and Lipatti.
The Well-Tempered Clavier: Books 1 and 2
Distinguished Australian pianist and harpsichordist Judith Lambden presents J.S. Bach’s complete Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I and II (BWV 846–893), recorded across nine years as a five-CD set.
Nordic Moods & Baroque Echoes
A collaboration between Duo Langborn/Wendel and The Marais Project, this album blends baroque repertoire, new compositions and arrangements, and folk music from Australia and Sweden.
Bach Piano 2
More Bach keyboard works on piano from Judith Lambden. Of her first volume, Toby Wong praised ‘[Lambden’s] exceptional artistry … creates a compelling and vibrant musical narrative.’
Bach Piano 1
Pianist Judith Lambden continues her long-running survey of Bach’s keyboard works. This programme gathers four early toccatas with the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue and the Italian Concerto.
Duos
An extraordinary acoustic frames extraordinary music: Ruth Wilkinson (recorders and bass viola da gamba) and Cynthia O’Brien (baroque violin), the duo known as Capella Corelli, in late Baroque two-part repertoire.
A Baroque Christmas
The music on this CD is a historical Christmas “pick of the pops”, from the late 1400s to the end of the Baroque period. Directed by Douglas Lawrence, the Australian Chamber Choir offers a programme recorded live in concert during their 2019 European tour. The 17 tracks are drawn from lesser-known seasonal works, championing a sublime repertoire that is all too often neglected.
Six Concerti
Hans-Dieter Michatz and Monika Kornel present Georg Philipp Telemann’s Six Concerti from the 1734 Six concerts et six suites, scored here for voice flute, tenor recorder and harpsichord.
The Dew Gatherers
Playing its own arrangements and realisations of the songs and arias of Johann Philipp Krieger, the Cole, Heymink and Brewer trio (voice, harpsichord and bassoon) has created a ground-breaking recording. Krieger (1649–1725) is one of the important forerunners of Bach and Handel.
Spinning Forth
The title points to music still to come. The programme gathers French baroque viola da gamba repertoire with Swedish roots and newly commissioned Australian works, spinning forth in fresh directions.
Alchemy
Alicia Crossley, one of Australia’s leading recorder players, presents transcriptions that open classical, romantic, impressionist and contemporary repertoire to tenor and bass recorder.
Six French Suites
Judith Lambden plays Bach’s six French Suites on piano across two discs, offered for the price of one. The set presents the complete dance cycles BWV 812–817 in a clear, balanced reading.
Six English Suites
Judith Lambden performs Johann Sebastian Bach’s six English Suites, BWV 806–811, complete on piano across two discs.
Love Reconciled
A landmark in Australian early-music performance, The Marais Project’s Love Reconciled is a recording to return to often and savour deeply.
Bach: Goldberg Variations, Original Transcriptions
Cameron Roberts, already marked out as one of Australia’s finest young artists, makes his recording debut with an all-Bach piano recital centred on the Goldberg Variations.
Six Organ Concertos - G. F. Handel
These ever-popular concertos by Handel appear here in the composer's own arrangements for organ alone, played on the historic 1888 George Fincham organ in Richmond Uniting Church.
Bach Sacred Songs and Chorus
Melbourne choir Aspiration in Harmony, with soprano Bente Lancaster and director Andrew Blackburn, presents sacred songs and chorales from the Anna Magdalena Notebook and Schemelli’s hymn book.
Perth Concert Hall: Ronald Sharp organ
Jangoo Chapkhana plays the Ronald Sharp organ at Perth Concert Hall. The programme spans Buxtehude, Sweelinck, Bach, Balbastre, Langlais, Messiaen and Eben, and closes with Chapkhana’s own Variations on Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.
Magnificat
Douglas Lawrence plays a magnificent recital on the four-manual Rieger organ he designed for The Scots' Church, Melbourne, drawing out the instrument’s full range of colour and power.
Organ Miniatures
A collection of 33 short organ works on the 1882 T.C. Lewis organ at St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda. The programme samples music written for small pipe organs and harmoniums, from Baroque chorales to twentieth-century miniatures.
Golden Sounds
Ian King returns to the studio to enthral us once more with the golden sounds of his tuba, in arrangements of Falla, Corelli, Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy, Ravel, Gershwin and more.
Carillon and Organ
Enjoy the spectacular sound of organ and carillon as never before. Recorded at the University of Sydney, this disc features organist Amy Johansen and master carillonneur Jill Forrest in music drawn from the University's ceremonial life.
The Choir of Ormond College Live
A live retrospective for the Choir of Ormond College’s twenty-first year, gathering concert recordings from 1985 to 2000 under Douglas Lawrence, from Britten’s Festival Te Deum and Fauré’s Requiem to Bach, Palestrina, Poulenc and lively encores.
The Rieger at Scots'
So just what does one play to demonstrate the resources of a large, beautifully voiced new organ? Douglas Lawrence sets out the wide tonal palette of the Rieger at The Scots' Church, Melbourne, completed in 1999.
Beatus Vir
Recorded live on their 1999 European tour, the Choir of Ormond College under Douglas Lawrence presents small-scale sacred works in up to eight parts by Palestrina, Gesualdo, Handl, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Stanford and Rheinberger.
Songs of Love and Marriage
Benjamin Thorn and Wayne Madden present a journey through 600 years of music on the theme of love. Rarely heard works by Barbara Strozzi and Francesca Caccini sit beside the more familiar music of Telemann and Ortiz.
Tyrannick Love
The Orpheus Ensemble with Vivien Hamilton. Songs for soprano, harpsichord, baroque cello (viola da gamba and baroque violins on occasion), each written for famous singers and actresses in popular Restoration dramas of late 17th-century England.
Via Frescobaldi
Seventeenth-century Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi was at once conservative and innovative. La Romanesca presents improvisatory toccatas, imitative polyphonic instrumental works, and songs from his arie musicali of 1630.
Historic Organs of the Barossa Valley, Vol. 2
Christopher Dearnley and John Stiller play seven historic Lutheran church organs of South Australia’s Barossa Valley in the second volume of this survey.
Breath of Creation
Flutes of two worlds. On shakuhachi, baroque flute and recorder, two performers renowned in their own fields join forces in a display of virtuosic delights and evocative sound-scapes.
With Tenderness, With Fire
Ronald Farren-Price encores his hugely popular Reflections with this solo recital, ranging from the sublime beauty of a Beethoven Adagio to the thundering splendour of Prokofiev’s Toccata.
Historic Organs of the Barossa Valley, Vol. 1
Christopher Dearnley and John Stiller give striking performances on six historic church organs of South Australia’s Barossa Valley. A 16-page booklet traces the instruments, their builders and the music.
Just Married: Organ Music for a Wedding
A compilation of history's most celebrated organ music, long popular at weddings. The insert notes usefully group the tracks as processionals, recessionals and music for the signing of the register.
Centenary Plus
Sydney City Organist Robert Ampt plays the restored William Hill and Son Grand Organ at Sydney Town Hall in a programme spanning more than a century of music linked with the instrument, from Handel and Bach to Koehne, Dubois, Best and Ampt.
Bamboo Organ
Douglas Lawrence and the Manila Chamber Orchestra. Manila's suburb of Las Piñas boasts the world's only organ with pipes made from bamboo. Solo pieces and Handel's Organ Concerto in G minor show the instrument's range; a bonus disc interviews the restorer.
I Heard the Owl Call My Name
The highly acclaimed recording of the Choir of Ormond College's European tour. Includes the amazing choral soundscape I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Australian composer Philip Nunn.
Reflections
Internationally acclaimed pianist Ronald Farren-Price offers superb performances of some of the greatest music written for the piano, in a wide-ranging recital of favourite short works.
L'Infidèle
William Bower plays solo lute works by Lauffensteiner, Weiss, Mésangeau and Gallot, much of it first heard on disc when this programme was recorded in 1977.
Italian Organ Masters
Major master organist Sergio de Pieri offers an enjoyable and authoritative survey of Italian organ repertoire by lesser-known masters, from Renaissance dances and ricercari to Zipoli and Frescobaldi.
Rhapsodie
Australian saxophonist Peter Clinch presents a recital of fine classical chamber music. Often linked with jazz, the saxophone is heard here in a classical programme that ranges from the Italian Baroque to the early twentieth century.
Festival of Organ Masterpieces
Douglas Lawrence plays favourite organ repertoire on the instrument of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, spanning nearly three centuries of transcriptions and original works.
Pachelbel, His Canon and Much More
Douglas Lawrence plays the Ronald Sharp organ in the Ormond College Chapel, Melbourne, in favourite Baroque organ works by Pachelbel, Buxtehude, Scheidt, Camidge and Greene.
Impulses
This programme gathers music that inspired Hamish Strathdee during his years in Canberra, Darmstadt and Hamburg from 2013 to 2022. Titled Impulses, it is a small selection from his repertoire: works that carried a strong artistic charge for the guitarist.
In Flight
Classical guitarist Harold Gretton offers a varied programme spanning some three centuries of solo guitar music, from Sylvius Leopold Weiß in the eighteenth century to his own Australian bird-inspired pieces of the twenty-first.
Two
Two brings together Marais Project founding members Jennifer Eriksson, viola da gamba, and Tommie Andersson, gallichon, theorbo and baroque guitar. Each plays alternate brackets of solos before they join in a splendid suite by Marin Marais.
The Garden Party
The Marais Project’s anniversary disc The Garden Party has a festive flavour, mixing world-premiere Marais arrangements and Eriksson’s title track with earlier Move recordings across French baroque, Swedish folk and South American song.
Snow in Summer
In 18th-century Scotland, folk songs sat beside Corelli and Vivaldi without hierarchy. Across thirteen tracks, Snow in Summer pairs period sonatas with folk arrangements: sparse strings, plucked notes like stars, and a voice high above.
Soul
Douglas Lawrence OAM leads the Australian Chamber Choir through sacred music spanning Renaissance polyphony, early Baroque splendour and African-American spirituals.
Smörgåsbord
The Marais Project’s fifth disc gathers Swedish folk, Bellman songs, Roman and Marais chamber works, a jazz pavane and even ABBA, all heard for the first time in Australia on period instruments.
Lady Sings the Viol
The concept behind Lady Sings the Viol was a CD of “covers”: five singers, alone and together, take songs from 1300 to the present, from Piaf and Schubert to John Paul Jones and Elena Kats-Chernin.
Lobe den Herren
Anthony Halliday gives a varied organ recital on the historic instrument at Melbourne's Trinity Lutheran Church. The programme runs from grand Bach works through Mozart and a Bach–Vivaldi concerto to his own transcription of the finale of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
Original Transcriptions for Piano
Piano transcriptions of rare originality and virtuosity. Australian pianist-composer Cameron Roberts turns orchestral showpieces and intimate songs into a solo-piano tour de force.
Flight
Concordia Mandolin and Guitar Ensemble gathers its more virtuosic, lively and passionate repertoire under the idea of flight. Flight of the Bumble Bee and Le Streghe (The Witches) lead the way; the remaining works answer with energy and vitality that suggest flights of fancy.
The Litanies of St. Francis Xavier
A generous 2-CD set of Jan Dismas Zelenka’s liturgical music from the Schola Cantorum of Melbourne: the Litaniae Xaverianae, five Vespers psalms, the Magnificat in D and the Alma Redemptoris Mater.